video games are good, except when they're not

Day #202: Excitebike

That really seems to be the only context under which anyone would have a conversation about Excitebike, and even then it would probably be a short one.

“Yeah, once I got to the blue track, I just stopped playing.”

“Yeah, this one time I made a track that was nothing but the big ramp over and over.”

“So.. uh… that menu music was pretty good.”

And then the conversation would end, though, for some reason, the name Excitebike would still garner some level of nostalgic reverence for the two involved whenever it was brought up; the memory of what it represents being greater than what it actually is. It’s consistent with Nintendo and the usage of their properties as a rule, though I’m obviously using this opportunity to admit that I don’t think Excitebike is as good as most of them.

While preparing for my Sunday write-up where I (spoiler) look at the mini-NES and it’s somewhat questionable games list, I sort of just nodded when I saw Excitebike there, unconsciously assuming that it belonged, even though I couldn’t name a time when I played it for longer than ten minutes. In the context of the “hey man, you liked playing the Nintendo as a kid” messaging towards the casual audience that they’re targeting, I totally get it. I just wonder what it’ll be like for them to actually go back and play it again. What will they think of Excitebike in 2016? What will they tell their friends?